James T.R. Jones
ProfessorLawyer
AdvocateUnited States
1953–2018
James T.R. Jones was an American law professor who taught at the University of Louisville’s Louis D. Brandeis School of Law from 1986 until his death in 2018. He was known for his teaching and legal scholarship and later became a mental-health advocate. [2]
Career and work
Jones earned his J.D. with honors from Duke University School of Law, where he served on the Duke Law Journal and was elected to the Order of the Coif. After law school, he clerked for judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, then worked in private practice in New York and Florida. He was also a member of the Florida Bar. [2]
He entered academia in 1985 as a Bigelow Teaching Fellow and Lecturer in Law at the University of Chicago Law School. In 1986, he joined the University of Louisville’s Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, where he remained on the faculty for the rest of his career. [2]
His teaching and scholarship covered torts, domestic violence, professional liability, decedents’ estates, legal writing and written advocacy. He became particularly known for scholarship examining how tort law could be used to improve institutional responses to domestic violence. [3][2]
What has been publicly discussed
Sources and other resourcesExpand to view the sources used in this profile and resources to learn more.
Sources used for this profile
The following sources contain information that supports the claims made on this page.
James T.R. Jones, Journal of Legal Education, 2007Walking the Tightrope of Bipolar Disorder: The Secret Life of a Law Professor Jones’s central first-person account of living with bipolar disorder. It supports the profile’s discussion of depression, mania, suicidality, psychiatric hospitalization, lithium and other treatment, professional functioning, secrecy, stigma and his reasons for publicly disclosing his diagnosis.
profile or biographyUniversity of Louisville Brandeis School of LawRemembering Professor James T.R. Jones Provides Jones’s education, legal practice, academic appointments, teaching and research areas, Florida Bar membership and mental-health advocacy. It also confirms that Walking the Tightrope marked his first public disclosure and documents his advocacy awards.
article or webpageJames T.R. Jones, 2011A Hidden Madness Jones’s book-length memoir of more than three decades with bipolar disorder, including psychiatric hospitalizations, medication and therapy, recurrent crises, relationships, professional life and efforts to maintain stability.
book or publisher page
Learn more
Recommended books and other resources about James T.R. Jones and their experiences.
- A Hidden MadnessBook · James T.R. Jones, 2011
Jones’s book-length memoir about living with bipolar disorder for more than three decades while building a legal and academic career.
- “High Functioning”: Successful Professionals with Severe Mental IllnessArticle · James T.R. Jones, 2015
A later scholarly article examining lawyers, doctors and academics who continued demanding professional careers while living with serious mental illness.
- Professor Jones returning to Duke to discuss successful professionals with mental illnessProfile · University of Louisville
A short profile of Jones’s later advocacy and scholarship on professional functioning and serious mental illness.